


Red Ledger

by Marissaxx



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Al Sahim-ish, Angst, Homecoming, One Shot, Reference to 3x20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-13 23:10:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4541034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marissaxx/pseuds/Marissaxx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years after capturing Nyssa as demanded by Ra's Al Ghul, Oliver Queen finally comes home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Ledger

**Author's Note:**

> Quick little one-shot to get this angst piece out of my brain.

Oliver Queen stood at the edge of Starling City and lowered his hood. The familiar skyline glittered in the distance, vast and bright under the radiance of the full moon.

He breathed the crisp air and closed his eyes. He was home.

He hadn’t been back since the night they’d captured Nyssa. Now, almost five years later, Ra’s Al Ghul was dead and Oliver was free.

He looked down at his hands; they were hands that should have been covered in blood. Al-Sa-Him’s ledger was littered with dead bodies. He had killed mercilessly and in cold-blood. It had been a necessary evil; to secure his title as Heir to the Demon.

He could survive it. He was strong enough; damaged enough. Oliver had been exposed to enough evil, suffered through enough of humanity’s lowest, to endure the hell’s of Nanda Parbat and its repercussions; but his friends, his _sister_ \- they would have died at the hands of Ra’s Al Ghul.

Infiltrate and destroy. That had been the mission. Countless nights spent planning alongside Malcolm Merlyn, discussing and learning the League’s methods and weaknesses, counted on his ability to play his part convincingly. So convincingly, that even those closest to him had to believe it.

Oliver swallowed the swell in his throat as he remembered what he’d had to do. Remembered their response at what he had done. The despicable act of betrayal he had performed flawlessly, in order for his plan to work- in order for them to be safe and protected. At his darkest times, at his lowest low’s; that had been his driving force.      

It was the hardest thing Oliver ever had to do, and he’d almost cracked. After all, Oliver Queen had never been able to deny _her,_ and when she’d demanded Maseo not touch her on that rooftop, it had been no different. She’d almost unraveled everything. But the island had instilled a deep and chilling darkness within him, darkness that allowed Oliver to drag a sword across his best friend’s stomach. Darkness that kept him from dropping to his knees as his baby sister, clad in a hood, aimed an arrow at him, like he was the threat. 

Now he was back. He’d completed what he’d set out to do. But Oliver Queen existed only by a thread, threatening to snap at any moment; so far removed from the person he’d become before Nanda Parbat and a mere shell of the person he’d been before the island.

Oliver had contemplated not returning. Instead, leaving for somewhere far away, where those he loved would be protected from him and his demons. But his very being was connected to Starling City; his blood ran through its streets- the blood of his family.

And he had to see _her_. If only just once more.

Their night together in Nanda Parbat was branded into his soul. He’d never loved someone so wholly and deeply as he loved her, and every day he lived, he was thankful to have had at least one moment with her, one blissful moment that remained untarnished by all that he’d done and all that he would do. Nothing had mattered but them.

Thoughts and memories of her kept him sane- gave him strength when the weight of his plan had been too great to bear. She was light, and he was a moth to a flame.  

But he’d hurt her so deeply. Oliver remembered the look in her eyes as she watched him leave, after rushing to Digg’s injured side. It had been five years and his last words to her had been to move on; to live a happy life. Oliver Queen was many things- damaged and selfish among them, but loving Felicity had always been selfless and wholehearted. He wanted the best for her, regardless of how she received it.

He didn’t know what to expect, but he knew that he needed to see her again, if only to assure himself that she was safe and happy and healthy.

It was with this thought that he moved and then ducked into the alleyway of an abandoned building, not disappearing into the shadows- but rather becoming them, and delving once more into the arms of his city.

**Author's Note:**

> Fin for the moment. Might make this a multi chapter in the future. Thanks for reading! xx


End file.
